Please Welcome Author, A.J. KIRBY

HOT-SPOTS

A.J. Kirby

For me – one of the biggest sports fans you could hope to meet – perhaps the most memorable image of this year’s soccer World Cup in Brazil was not the breathtaking image of a beautifully-wrought goal, nor was it the shot of the Brazilian players as they strained nerve and sinew into singing the national anthem. It wasn’t a panning shot of Rio de Janeiro, taking in the majestic Christ the Redeemer statue, the sweet Sugar Loaf Mountain, and the glorious white stretch of Copacabana beach. (Though I did love all of those images.)

No, it was something else.

What I loved were the pictoral representations of tweets as they happened. We saw Earth as though from space and upon that canvas, the firework display of tweets all over the world whenever a goal was scored. These explosions of colour – these hot-spots – occurred largely in the nations which were engaged in the current game. But they also ricocheted across every continent, into every corner of the globe. Twitter used keywords and hashtags to track the tweets in real-time.

I’d never seen anything like it before.

The hot-spot tweets show us three things:

Number one, obviously, is the burgeoning popularity of soccer in the US – the hashtag #USMST went viral. Obama watched the games and talked up the team. Will Ferrell invented his own brand of cheer-leading. It was something to behold.

Number two is something we over here – in England, where our team was less successful and a lot less gutsy than yours – have known for a long time. Soccer truly is the global, everyman/ everywoman sport. I understand that during one of the World Cup’s Round of 16 matches – Chile versus Brazil – a total of 16.4 million tweets were chirped out into the ether, thus making it the most tweeted-about sporting event ever. When Chile missed the decisive penalty kick, there was an incredible burst – a hot-spot if you will – of nearly four hundred thousand tweets that minute, breaking a previous record set in this year’s Superbowl.

And number three? It teaches us that when something eventful – momentous some might say – occurs, it is our first instinct to tell other people about it. Even if we known damned well they’ll already know about it too because they’ll have been watching the same images as us.

We like being part of the zeitgeist.

Twitter – it appears to me – is great for lots of things. Whenever I want to see a picture of a cat doing something cute, Twitter’s my first port of call. But it is also especially good for sports fans. Sports are all about things happening in the moment, and Twitter – it seems to me – is the ideal medium for talking about sport. Twitter is also a great boon for writers. It is words – our words mostly – which we are hotly firing out there onto that great canvas which is the world, hoping someone will read them.

All of which is a longhand way of saying that prior to witnessing that image of the Twitter hot-spots during the World Cup, I dabbled with Twitter. I paid my dues and sent out the odd tweet. Now, I’m going to try and harness it to help get the word out there about my new book. My new book – coincidentally – ties in sports and writing and as such should be perfect fodder for the Twitterati. If I get things right.

If not, I might as well be shouting into an empty cave.

What also excites me is the fact I can be here in the first place, talking on a US blog, about soccer. You guys get it now (I hope). And as such, there is surely a whole new marketplace opening up to me from ‘across the pond’.

My book is about my favourite sports team, Manchester United. It is a narrative which contains triumph and tragedy, death and glory. Love too. And surely that’s the type of thing everyone wants to read about. It’s an introduction, a primer, into how soccer can get into the blood of a family – my family – and stay there from generation to generation. Frankly I enjoyed every minute of writing it. Every page was – to me – a hot-spot.

THE PRIDE OF ALL EUROPE

ANNOUNCING the release of the much-anticipated new sports book by Andrew J Kirby, the author of the exceptionally well-received Fergie’s Finest: Sir Alex Ferguson’s Greatest Manchester United x11.

The Pride of All Europe: Manchester United’s Greatest Seasons in the European Cup is published by Endeavour Press and is available as an ebook now, with the paperback coming soon.

About the Book

Manchester United was the first English team to make the foray into the European Cup, participating in the tournament despite the express disapproval of the Football League.

They were also the first English winners of the trophy.

Over the years, United’s European adventures have spanned tragedy – the 1958 Munich Air Disaster – and triumph – three European Cup wins – and have provided no shortage of memorable stories.

Despite United being only the eighth most successful club in the competition’s history, the United name is irrevocably linked to the European Cup.

This book explores the reasons why.

With interviews from fans, personal anecdotes and excerpts from football archives, this book looks back at the history of the club and their greatest – and worst – moments.

‘The Pride of All Europe’ celebrates Manchester United’s triumphs in European football, concentrating on ten key stories from the twenty-five seasons and six decades the club has participated in the Europe’s premier competition, interspersed with brief, first-hand fan accounts of those fabled United “Euroaways.”

In this detailed study, Andrew Kirby dissects the rich history of Manchester United in Europe.

This is the one book that every true Manchester United fan ought to read.

Praise for Andrew Kirby:

‘A brilliant look at the finest players we’ve seen during Fergie’s reign, and indeed, the club’s entire history. A must read for any red.’ Scott the Red, Editor: Republik of Mancunia United Blog

‘As a Manchester United fan I found it really interesting and the author knows his stuff. I recommend reading it.’ – Angela Bowman, Manchester United fan

‘This book takes an intelligent, thorough and witty look at the players who served Fergie during his reign at Man United. The perfect gift for the red devil in your life! Sam Sharp, Manchester United fan

‘I definitely recommend this to anybody interested in football in general and Manchester United in particular. Buy it now!’ – Michael Hopkins, Manchester United fan

About the Author

Andrew J Kirby’s sports writing has featured in BBC Sport magazine, and on the Radio Five Live website. He has held a Manchester United season ticket for the entirety of the Sir Alex Ferguson reign at Old Trafford, and regularly follows the Reds across Europe and beyond. He is also the author of ‘Fergie’s Finest’.

He also writes award-winning crime fiction as AJ Kirby, and has published five novels including Sharkways and Paint This Town Red, which was shortlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize 2012.

About the Publisher

Endeavour Press is the UK’s leading independent publisher of digital books.

Welcome to PFHT! I love your map and I do like the idea of a lot of people on Twitter talking about the same thing at the same time. The tweets help me to feel more connected. Twitter has changed my television viewing, I have to admit, of particular big events. It will be interesting to see if the increased engagement with this year’s World Cup will increase participation in soccer here. Thank you for your post!

Andy,
Wow. I love the way you write and it’s mesmerizing no matter what topic you’re covering. I don’t know much about soccer but you have me hooked. This is a wonderful post. est of luck with your latest book.

Welcome to PFHT! A former boss of mine, a man from England, once referred to me as someone who’s not a soccer fan but follows what’s going on. (Granted, this could also be interpreted to mean that I know enough at least to realize that when I hear name “Ronaldo,” I know it’s not someone from Brazil or Portugal discussing Ronald McDonald.)

I do agree with you that soccer is gaining popularity in this country. The most recent World Cup was the first time that I listened to matches on radio while I was driving. However, unlike listening to American-style football on radio, I could not follow very well what was happening. I have much to learn.

Hi AJ, So glad you could join us at PFHT. Marilyn Baron introduced me to you, figuratively, of course, and I’m so glad she did. I will get The Pride ofAll Europe, and I know I’ll enjoy it. No one would guess, but I played (very) little intramural soccer in college, but enjoyed it. Thanks, Walt for the site.

I haven’t caught on to twitter, but the image you painted of the whole world communicating at once spoke to me. I’ll have to give it another try.

The World Cup even caught the interest of my youngest daughter-the bodies of the players that is.

Sia Huff -August 6, 2014 - 7:52 pm

All I can say is Wow, AJ. I love the way you’ve figured out what a powerful tool Twitter can be – and all because of soccer! Every man’s dream. Very cool map, BTW!

sandra Elzie -August 6, 2014 - 10:34 pm

AJ,
Welcome to our blog! I thoroughly enjoyed your article and know I’ll enjoy your book. Soccer is gaining fans over here…at least according to my hubby. I love the idea of a lot of folks tweeting at the same time on a subject…or a World Cup. Guess I’ll have to get more involved with it.

Thank you so much for your lovely comments about the blog. I truly appreciate it. Thanks to Walt for putting up the US link for the book, to Connie for making me laugh (the comment re, the players bodies), to Piper for pretty much agreeing with me, to Marilyn for another lovely comment, to Walt again for adding to the story – listening to the games on the radio! To Maxine for playing the game! I did too, but gave up a couple of years back… wish I’d carried on now. To Sia, and Sandra too. I felt a little like the pub bore droning on about football on here, but actually you’ve shown me there is an audience here! Thank you

Andy

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